Convicts in the dark for hours about Indonesia execution reprieve

JAKARTA: Ten drug convicts spared during a chaotic execution in Indonesia were only officially informed they would not be shot hours after they had expected to face the firing squad, a lawyer said on Wednesday. Despite international protests, one Indonesian and three Nigerian convicts were put to death shortly after midnight Friday on a prison island — Jakarta’s first round of executions for over a year. But another 10 death row prisoners, including Indonesians as well as nationals from Pakistan, India, Zimbabwe and Nigeria, were not executed, although authorities have suggested they will face the firing squad at a later date. It is still not clear why the group were pulled from the latest round and the process has attracted strong condemnation, with one lawyer calling it a “complete mess”. Authorities have not given a clear explanation but theories have ranged from concerns over legal problems with several cases to a major storm that hit the island as officials were about to carry out the sentences.